A new study has investigated whether and how Helicobacter infection is distributed among different birth cohorts and what conclusions can be drawn from this.
The study included over 40,000 healthy adults born between 1935 and 1990. The data of those who had a healthy gastric mucosa without previous H. pylori eradication were examined. This was over 25,000 people.
The study authors describe that the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori decreases linearly with birth cohort. That is, the later a person was born, the more likely he or she was to have a healthy stomach mucosa without infection with H. pylori. For example, from the 1935 birth cohort, only 19.8% of participants had a healthy gastric mucosa without prior H. pylori eradication, while this was true for 94.7% of those born after 1990. The results showed statistical significance to the influence of Helicobacter pylori bacteria.
The younger a person is in Japan, the more likely they are to have a healthy stomach lining. According to the study authors, this may be related to a decrease in the prevalence of H. pylori infection. This example shows that eradication of the bacterium also has public health implications.
Technical reasons for the decline in Helicobacter pylori infections are summarised by author Prof. Renneberg in the article "Modern refrigerators against stomach cancer?"
Source:
Saito Y, Kikuchi S. Higher proportions of a healthy gastric mucosa in healthy Japanese adults with later birth year: analysis of 41 957 participants. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2022 Jun 20:hyac097. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35726159.